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Immediate and delayed reinforcement on WISC-R performance for mentally retarded students
Insights
Reinforcement significantly improves IQ test performance in children with intellectual disabilities. Both immediate and delayed token systems enhanced scores compared to standard testing, suggesting practical applications for educational assessments.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Intellectual disability can impact cognitive assessment performance.
- Standardized intelligence testing may not fully capture the potential of individuals with intellectual disabilities.
- Reinforcement strategies are explored to potentially mitigate testing limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of immediate and delayed reinforcement on WISC-R performance in children with intellectual disabilities.
- To compare the effectiveness of different reinforcement schedules in improving test scores.
- To examine the implications of reinforcement on the classification of intellectual functioning.
Main Methods:
- Thirty white children diagnosed with intellectual disabilities participated.
- Participants were administered the WISC-R under three conditions: standardized, standardized with immediate reinforcement, and standardized with delayed reinforcement.
- Reinforcement involved earning and exchanging tokens for backup reinforcers.
Main Results:
- Both immediate and delayed reinforcement groups demonstrated significantly higher WISC-R scores than the standardized testing group.
- No significant difference in performance was found between the immediate and delayed reinforcement groups.
- A higher proportion of children in reinforcement groups scored above the mentally impaired range compared to the standardized group.
Conclusions:
- Reinforcement strategies can enhance the performance of children with intellectual disabilities on intelligence tests.
- The timing of reinforcement (immediate vs. delayed) did not differentially affect outcomes.
- Findings suggest that reinforcement may offer a more accurate assessment of cognitive potential in this population.
Abstract:
Thirty white mentally retarded children were administered the WISC-R under one of three conditions: standardized testing conditions, standardized plus immediate reinforcement, standardized plus delayed reinforcement. One reinforcement group earned tokens immediately after each correct response and the other reinforcement group received their earned tokens halfway through and at the end of the IQ test. Both reinforcement groups exchanged their tokens for a variety of backup reinforcers at the halfway point and at the end of the test. Both the immediate and delayed reinforcement groups showed significantly better performance than the standardized testing group, although the two reinforcement groups did not differ from one another. Half of the children in each of the groups that earned tokens scored above the mentally impaired range while only one child in the standardized testing group scored above the mentally impaired level. Implications for the use of intelligence tests for mentally retarded students are discussed.